An electronic system including a mobile device that communicates with a reader device. In one embodiment, the mobile device may be configured as a mobile phone and the reader device may be configured as an electronic reader associated with an electronic lock. One or more devices in the system may determine the position of the mobile device in relation to the reader device, and cause an electronic lock or another type of access control device to perform a selected function based at least in part on the position of the mobile device in relation to the reader device.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method of operating an electronic lock having a long range capability and a close proximity range capability, the method comprising: establishing, via the long range capability of the electronic lock, an initial communication connection with a lock access credential when the lock access credential is located at a long range from the electronic lock, wherein the long range is farther than a short range from the electronic lock; authenticating, by the electronic lock and in response to establishing the initial communication connection with the lock access credential, the lock access credential when the lock access credential is farther than the short range from the electronic lock; terminating, by the electronic lock and in response to successful authentication of the lock access credential, the initial communication connection with the lock access credential via the long range capability; automatically establishing, by the close proximity range capability of the electronic lock and in response to terminating the initial communication connection with the lock access credential via the long range capability, a subsequent communication connection with the previously authenticated lock access credential when the lock access credential is located within the short range from the electronic lock to automatically reacquire the previously authenticated lock access credential; and automatically unlocking the electronic lock in response to automatically reacquiring the previously authenticated lock access credential without further authentication of the previously authenticated lock access credential.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically unlocking the electronic lock comprises automatically unlocking the electronic lock based on only the automatic reacquiring of the previously authenticated lock access credential by the close proximity range capability.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically reacquiring the previously authenticated lock access credential comprises automatically reacquiring the previously authenticated lock access credential when the lock access credential is located at the short range from the electronic lock.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising restricting, by the electronic lock, an unlock capability of the electronic lock in response to terminating the initial communication connection with the lock access credential until the automatic reacquiring of the previously authenticated lock access credential by the close proximity range capability.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein authenticating the lock access credential when the lock access credential is farther than the short range from the electronic lock comprises authenticating the lock access credential when the lock access credential is at the long range from the electronic lock.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining, by the electronic lock, a time from the initial communication connection until a user of the lock access credential will be within the short range from the electronic lock; and delaying, by the electronic lock, an automatic unlock feature of the electronic lock for the determined time in response to authenticating the lock access credential.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising updating at least one of the electronic lock or the lock access credential via the close proximity range capability in response to automatically unlocking the electronic lock before loss of the subsequent communication connection between the electronic lock and the lock access credential.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein updating the at least one of the electronic lock or the lock access credential comprises passing audits from the electronic lock to the lock access credential.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein updating the at least one of the electronic lock or the lock access credential via the close proximity range capability before the loss of the subsequent communication connection comprises continuing communication between the electronic lock and the lock access credential via the subsequent communication connection to update the at least one of the electronic lock or the lock access credential via the close proximity range capability until the lock access credential is farther than the short range from the electronic lock.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically unlocking the electronic lock comprises automatically unlocking the electronic lock based on only automatically establishing the subsequent communication connection with the previously authenticated lock access credential by the close proximity range capability of the electronic lock.
11. An electronic lock system, comprising: a credential; and an electronic lock comprising a long range capability and a close proximity range capability, wherein the electronic lock is configured to wirelessly communicate with the credential via the long range capability and the close proximity range capability, and wherein the electronic lock is further configured to: identify, by the long range capability, the credential based on an initial communication connection with the credential when the credential is located at a long range from the electronic lock, wherein the long range is farther than a short range; authenticate the credential when the credential is farther than the short range from the electronic lock; terminate the initial communication connection with the credential via the long range capability in response to successful authentication of the credential; automatically reacquire communication with the previously authenticated credential by the close proximity range capability when the credential is located within the short range from the electronic lock and in response to termination of the initial communication connection with the credential via the long range capability; and automatically unlock the electronic lock in response to automatically reacquiring the previously authenticated credential without further authentication of the previously authenticated credential.
12. The electronic lock system of claim 11 , wherein to automatically unlock the electronic lock comprises to automatically unlock the electronic lock based on only automatically reacquiring of communication with the previously authenticated credential by the close proximity range capability of the electronic lock.
13. The electronic lock system of claim 11 , wherein the automatically reacquiring the previously authenticated credential comprises automatically reacquiring the previously the previously authenticated credential when the lock access credential is located at the short range from the electronic lock.
14. An apparatus, comprising: an electronic lock having a long range capability that enables communication with a credential at a long range from the electronic lock and a close proximity range capability that enables communication with the credential at a short range from the electronic lock, wherein the long range is farther than the short range, and wherein the electronic lock is configured to: identify, by the long range capability, the credential based on an initial communication connection with the credential when the credential is located at the long range; authenticate the credential when the credential is farther than the short range; terminate the initial communication connection with the credential via the long range capability in response to successful authentication of the credential; automatically reacquire communication with the previously authenticated credential by the close proximity range capability when the credential is located within the short range and in response to termination of the initial communication connection with the credential via the long range capability; and automatically unlock a door in response to automatically reacquiring the previously authenticated credential without further authentication of the previously authenticated credential.
15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein to automatically reacquire communication with the previously authenticated credential comprises to automatically reacquire communication with the previously authenticated credential when the credential is located at the short range.
16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein to automatically unlock the door comprises to automatically unlocking the door based on only the automatic reacquiring of communication with the previously authenticated credential by the close proximity range capability.
17. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the electronic lock is further configured to restrict an unlock capability of the electronic lock in response to terminating the initial communication connection with the credential until the automatic reacquiring of communication with the previously authenticated credential by the close proximity range capability.
18. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the electronic lock is further configured to (i) determine a time from the initial communication connection until a user of the credential will be within the short range and (ii) delay an automatic unlock feature of the electronic lock for the determined time in response to authentication of the credential.
19. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the electronic lock is further configured to update at least one of the electronic lock or the credential via the close proximity range capability in response to automatically unlocking the door before loss of communication between the electronic lock and the credential.
20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein to update the at least one of the electronic lock or the credential via the close proximity range capability before the loss of communication comprises to update the at least one of the electronic lock or the credential via the close proximity range capability before the credential is farther than the short range from the electronic lock.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
July 17, 2019
December 15, 2020
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